VITAE

Ken Rea was born at the depth of the Great Depression in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.  He spent most of his childhood in Regina where he completed primary and secondary school and a first year of university at Regina College. He went on to do an honours degree in economics and political science at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon where he developed strong ties with members of the department -- George Britnell, Mabel Timlin, Vernon Fowke, and Ken Buckley. In 1955 he completed an MA in economics and political science. His thesis was on the Saskatchewan Anti-Tuberculosis League for which he worked during the summers, traveling throughout the province, first as a driver of a mobile X-ray unit and later as a community organizer. A succession of scholarships enabled him to attend the London School of Economics from which he graduated in 1959 with a Ph.D, his field of study being economic development.

In 1959 he took up an appointment as Special Lecturer in Economics and Political Science back at the University of Saskatchewan , replacing Mabel Timlin who retired from the department in that year. He was made an Assistant Professor in 1961 and promoted to Associate in 1964. His teaching at Saskatchewan included a large freshman course in "political economy", a course in money and banking, and a course concerned with the analysis of economic policy issues. In 1961 he and a former undergraduate classmate, Natalie Larionyk, married.

Ken and Natalie moved to Toronto in 1968 where Ken was appointed Associate Professor at the University of Toronto . Natalie resumed her studies, completing an MA in Slavic Studies and an MLS before again taking up her teaching career. 

In 1971 Ken was made a Full Professor at the U of T, teaching elementary economics, Canadian economic history, the analysis of Canadian economic issues and a variety of other courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level. His major scholarly publications include The Political Economy of the Canadian North (University of Toronto Press, 1968); The Political Economy of Northern Development (Science Council of Canada, 1975); and The Prosperous Years: The Economic History of Ontario 1939-1975 (University of Toronto Press, 1985). He has also published several collections of readings (Business and Government in Canada, with J.T. McLeod, Methuen, 1969, revised 1976; Government and Enterprise in Canada, with N. Wiseman, Methuen, 1985) and other course material (A Guide to Canadian Economic History, Canadian Scholar's Press, 1991). He has contributed articles to the Encyclopaedia Britannica (Canada: Yukon and Northwest Territories; Encyclopedia Canadiana (Economic History). He has worked as a consultant to provincial government commissions of inquiry (Ontario Committee on the Healing Arts, 1968-70; Ontario Commission on Post-Secondary Education, 1971-72; British Columbia Department of Health, 1973; the Council of the Northwest Territories, 1977; the Ontario Royal Commission on the Northern Environment, 1978). Work in the media includes writing a "Canadian User's Guide" for Galbraith's "The Age of Uncertainty" as aired by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority in 1977 and scripts for a TVOntario series on "The Future of Work", in 1984. 

With the coming of personal computers and the Internet Ken became involved in developing computer-aided instructional techniques for use in large (400 plus) lecture courses and in 1997 launched the first fully WWW-based course (Canadian Economic Development since Confederation) offered by the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto.  Following his official retirement in 1998 he continued to develop online instructional material and perform duties relating to academic discipline in the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto. More recently he has been active in the University of Toronto Retiree Association (RALUT) serving as Communications Director and establishing the first RALUT website. He has also been active in developing the national association of university and college retiree organizations, CURAC, serving as secretary and webmaster <http://www.curac.ca>.

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